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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: date · plane · file · cold · ball · shower · snap · swing

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. file — a tool
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. snap — to click
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. cold — an illness
  9. file — a line of people
  10. ball — a great time
  11. plane — a tool
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. shower — rain
  14. swing — music
  15. cold — not warm
  16. date — the fruit
  17. swing — to play on
  18. swing — in golf
  19. shower — to wash
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. ball — a dance
  23. file — a document
  24. shower — a meteor shower

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com